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olaf

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Posts posted by olaf

  1. No, I have not added in sound. This will more than likely require the help of someone else, as sound is *absolutely* not my thing. I haven't asked anyone yet, but I know someone people who can. Let's not be disgruntled that sound support will be a little late! Also, I have added layer disabling, below are some screenshots of it in action.

     

    olafsms-layer1.PNG

     

    No layers disabled.

     

    olafsms-layer2.PNG

     

    The background layer disabled.

     

    olafsms-layer3.PNG

     

    The sprite layer disabled.

  2. Yet another work-in-progress showing! This time I've optimized the black and white palette that was originally distributed with vbSMS. Below are a few comparisons between emulator windows and palettes...

     

    olafsms-vs1.PNG vs. olafsms-os1.PNG

     

    Look at the tops of the mountains, Sonic's contrast, and the floor.

     

    olafsms-vs2.PNG vs. olafsms-os2.PNG

     

    Look at the flowers, mountains, and character clothing.

     

    olafsms-vs3.PNG vs. olafsms-os3.PNG

     

    The real test... how... horrible.

     

    olafsms-vs4.PNG vs. olafsms-os4.PNG

     

    A Sega Game Gear game... the actual palette is still wrong, but the optimized black and white palette makes a difference (makes games more tolerable to play with the horrible palette).

  3. Another great announcement for the day: I've just finished adding in movie recording/playing! I thought ahead with file size in mind -- it will not record Sega Game Gear input data if it's not a Sega Game Gear game being played. It's only 1 byte per read, but, that can add up during a movie and I'm just trying to be efficient anyway. Hooray!

     

    :)

     

    EDIT: You beat me to the announcement, Mooney. Poop.

  4. Well, I fixed full screen support earlier. For some reason, it would only allow resolution changing twice and then it would crap out. I'm also happy to announce that I've gotten state saving/loading to work (albeit in my own proprietary format). Below is a screenshot of me running Hang On/Safari Hunt in 320x240 full screen mode, yay?

     

    olafsms13.PNG

  5. No, thank you, retroK, for paying attention to my project(s). I plan on releasing it when it gets a little more feature rich and when I decide if I'm going to stick with the name "olafsms" and other things. On that note, I just got done adding in support for control port #2 (this wasn't in vbSMS along with the Game Gear's Start button like I've said previously).

     

    olafsms10.PNG

     

    Bubble Bobble with 2 players :(

  6. Well, I've embarked on a new emulation project. I was browsing the SMS Power message bored yesterday and I found the source code to a Sega Master System emulator written in Microsoft Visual Basic (my language of choice). I was just talking about the day before how I'd love to start working on a Sega Master System emulator -- it was fate. The source code I found was that of vbSMS written by John Casey ("brom" on SMS Power). It lacked an interface, required you to "drag 'n drop" ROM files to play them, lacked window sizing, and lacked many other things. You can download the source for yourself here or download a compiled version here to try it out (vbSMS -- not my emulator). Once I downloaded it, I immediately went to work.

     

    First, I added a menu system to the window. After that I actually made the menu items usable -- such as the "load rom..." menu item. Now it had the ability to load ROM files with a regular Windows "Open" dialog. Added right after that was the ability to "close" the ROM being executed. Now that I could open and close ROMs, I felt it was time to be able to pause and reset (for some reason these weren't implemented yet, but I personally find them crucial to even a preliminary emulator).

     

    Seeing that this was a Sega Master System emulator and knowing that the Sega Game Gear system is very similar -- I tried to load a Sega Game Gear game. It ran perfectly, but the palette was horrible (which is fine for right now, and I still have not fixed this) -- and the Start button wasn't implemented. I did a few minutes of research on the Sega Game Gear's hardware and added in support for its Start button. I also found that John Casey put in a lot of CPU activity alerts to learn more about how the CPU was working so he could fix things. The pop-ups were annoying me, so I removed them -- so I could just get to playing the games. Whilest enjoying just "playing the games", I got annoyed that I had to play in a tiny window -- so I added window sizing. After that, I hardcoded the palette files that came with vbSMS into the source code (why? I don't know, I just don't like emulators coming with a bunch of files -- I want them to just work in a single file or something). When all that was said and done, I added settings saving.

     

    Now, why did I explain all this? I guess to announce my new project (which I'm really excited about -- I grew up on Sega Master System and I've wanted to work on a Sega Master System emulator for some times) and to give a little insight on how people pick up on open source projects (especially me). Below are some screen shots of my emulator in action (dubbed olafsms for now). I'm not sure when I'm going to publicly release this, but I'll keep everyone posted?

     

    olafsms1.PNG

     

    Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS)

     

    olafsms2.PNG

     

    Zillion (SMS) -- personally, one of my most favorite games ever.

     

    olafsms3.PNG

     

    Ghost House (SMS) -- my family played this so much when I was little.

     

    olafsms4.PNG

     

    Phantasy Star (SMS)

     

    olafsms5.PNG

     

    Ariel - the Little Mermaid (GG) -- this is how Game Gear games look right now. :(

  7. Recently started is a new channel on EsperNet (irc.esper.net, the IRC network): #gamedev. Here, programmers and fans alike (as well as IRC goers) can chat amongst each other about PC and console game development. Many operators and regulars have great experience with: C, C++, Visual Basic, BASIC, Assembly, SDL, OpenGL, DirectX, Blitz Basic, Flash, HTML, Python, PHP, and more! Some of us also have much experience and skill with graphic design and graphics creation applications (example: Adobe PhotoShop). Some also have experience with game engines such as: GameMaker. Come see our projects and share yours (if you have one)! Suggestions towards game development, idea sharing, and the likes are all absolutely welcomed and encouraged!

     

    CLICK HERE TO JOIN IN NOW!

     

    For those with an IRC client, you can download the most popular Microsoft Windows IRC client here (mIRC). After installing, configuring, and so on, click the link above!

  8. I've recently been working on a game engine in my spare (and not spare) time. At this moment in time -- the engine itself is finished -- including AI (artificial intelligence, for those not acronymically inclined). It's -- in its rawest form -- a simple RPG game engine. In its final blossoming it will be an Internet-based Microsoft Windows PC game. Now, my only problem is that I'm a horrible artist -- especially on the PC. I need an artist who can dedicate a lot of time to making graphics for me. This includes (but is not limited to): "heroes", monsters, backgrounds, and other objects/obstacles (such as trees, gold, chests, boats, etc.). Now here comes the specifications to what you will be working with.

     

    - Dual layers (floor [background, ground, etc.]/monster [sprites, etc.]) with specifiable "obstacles".

    - 640x480 visible area made up of 32x32 pixel tiles (300 tiles per layer)

    - A fully done/easy-to-use map editor -- click here to see it in action (with filler tiles)

     

    I'm pretty layed back on how I want things to look -- and am even open to the graphics artist of being fully in charge of map making, etc.

     

    Questions or comments -- ask here or e-mail me (olafcore@gmail.com).

     

    :)

  9. In a surprise news conference this evening, Nintendo unexpectedly revealed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii, and released a promo video of the title. Smash Bros. Brawl will feature online play; a Nintendog item that blocks your view of the playfield by jumping up on the screen and demanding to be petted; bizarre Dragonball Z style superattacks; your choice of traditional Gamecube or motion-sensing Revmote control; and new characters in the form of Samus (without the suit), Meta Knight, Kid Icarus (!), and... Konami's Solid Snake, complete with a cardboard box he hides in. The only bad news is despite earlier reports it would be a launch title, Smash Bros. Brawl will not be out until 2007.

    I came across this news here (at Slashdot), which contains links to many original sources for this news.

  10. Nintendo has turned to Opera as the browser for their upcoming Wii gaming console. "Opera Software today announced that Nintendo's much anticipated new generation game console, Wii, will use the Opera browser. Users of the Wii console will browse the Internet using their consoles. Navigating via the innovative new Wii Remote controller, users can visit Web sites in between gaming sessions."

    I came across this news here (at OSNews.com), and the original source is none other than Opera Software ASA. It's become apparent that Nintendo seems to know what they're doing this time around in the console wars.

  11. Well, I recently bought a new computer, and I found that my emulator wouldn't work on it. I knew of olafnes not working on a good amount of computers, but it annoyed me now that it wasn't working on mine, so I fixed it. Below is a quotation of what I put in the change log text file.

     

    had to restart the project again, now olafnes will work properly on more versions of windows. i've recently bought a new computer, and it wasn't working on it.

     

    - added support for up to 12 buttons on gamepads

    - added in the video filters from basicnes 2000

    - changed menus around

    - removed a lot of stuff

     

    all the neato options will probably be back in version 0.2.2, this is more of a test release.

    You can visit the official homepage here.

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